Cairo: Muammar Gaddafi clung to his gradually shrinking territory in Libya where the opposition movement on Sunday formed a transitional "national council" to act as the "face of the revolution" but said it was not an interim
government.
Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by rebel troops who control the city closest to Tripoli appear to be heading towards a siege of the Libyan capital and prepared for an expected offensive by forces loyal to the regime of
68-year-old Gaddafi, who has ruled hisoil-rich nation for 41 years.
As more cities fell into the hands of the opposition, the pro-democracy protesters appointed ex-justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil to lead a provisional government.
Abdel-Jalil, meanwhile said he was forming a "transitional government" to replace Gaddafi's crumbling regime.
In the eastern city of al-Baida, Jalil said the new administration would include commanders of the regular army, many of whom had defected to the opposition, and the set up would pave the way for free and fair elections in three months' time, Al Jazeera said.
The online edition of the Libya's Quryna newspaper said Ajleil had led the formation of an interim government based in Benghazi.
Hafiz Ghoga, the spokesman for the new National Libyan Council formed after a meeting of Gaddafi opponents in the eastern city of Benghazi, said "the main aim of the national council is to have a political face ... for the revolution."
"We cannot call it an transition government. It is a national council," Ghoga told a news conference after the gathering.
Ghoga described Ajleil initiative as his "personal view".
Advancing towards Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli, protesters today gained control of Zawiyeh town, which is just 50 km from the capital, besides taking over Misurata in north-western Libya, Al Jazeera reported.
However, security forces loyal to Gaddafi kept a firm hold of Tripoli, which is in all probability headed for a major showdown between the two sides.
While a major chunk of the oil-producing eastern region, including the birth place of this uprising Benghazi, now appears to be in the grip of the protesters, there were also reports of sporadic gunfire in the capital.
In a tough message hours after the 15-member Security Council voted unanimously to slap "biting" sanctions on the regime, US President Barack Obama said that Gaddafi had lost legitimacy to rule and should leave "now".
"The President stated that when a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now," the White House
said in a statement after the telephonic conversation between Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The UN action came as an exodus of foreigners continued in the midst of a worsening situation and growing anarchy.
The UN refugee agency said that "close to 100,000 people", mainly foreign migrants, have fled Libya during the past week of turmoil.
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